Job title: Academic Content and Facilitation Manager (Refugee-Led Research Hub)
Location: Queen Elizabeth House, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB
Grade and salary: Grade 7: £39,424 – £47,779 per annum, pro rata
Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Contract type: Fixed-term until 30 September 2028 (with possibility of extension pending further funding)
Reporting to: Director of Academic Programmes (Refugee-Led Research Hub)
Start Date: 5th October (desired)
About Refugee-Led Research Hub
The Refugee-Led Research Hub (RLRH) supports individuals with lived experience of displacement to become leaders in fields related to human rights, forced migration, humanitarian response and development, politics, and law, among other areas. We do so by delivering academic and professional development programming to a global cohort of students who have been affected by displacement—as refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless, and beyond—supporting access to graduate degrees and advanced career opportunities. RLRH also creates opportunities for researchers with displacement backgrounds to lead primary and secondary research studies, from start to finish.
RLRH’s team is comprised of colleagues who are deeply committed to advancing refugee leadership, the majority of whom have lived experience of displacement. Our network of staff, researchers, students, and other affiliates is made up of 1,400+ individuals across 80+ countries. RLRH has six active offices: our first was established in Nairobi in 2020, we have had an office at the University of Oxford since 2021, and we have since developed physical hubs in Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kampala (Uganda), and in the Oxfordshire community (UK).
From October 2025 RLRH is funded to serve as a technical partner for the Mastercard Foundations Scholars Program network, advancing an ambitious global agenda to support displacement-affected learners to access 1,000+ graduate-level scholarships at partner universities around the world. RLRH provides expert guidance and implements specialised programmes to help these learners enter university, thrive on course, and pursue meaningful and enduring careers on completion of their degrees. A complementary, refugee-led research agenda designed by RLRH colleagues produces insights to help Scholars Program partner universities and other stakeholders accelerate positive, long-lasting systems change.
The role
Overview of the Academic Pillar
The Academic Pillar (AP) manages globally accessible education programmes that reach thousands of bachelors degree-holding refugees, asylum seekers, and others affected by displacement to strengthen their academic credentials and preparedness so they can access postgraduate degrees worldwide. A large, though not exclusive, proportion of the Pillar’s efforts are dedicated to recruiting and preparing African displacement-affected students for Mastercard Foundation’s Scholars Program graduate-level courses at 30+ partner universities. The AP team runs three hallmark programmes to support these prospective students:
Graduate Horizons provides learners with comprehensive postgraduate application and admissions support, from selecting right-fit universities and scholarships to crafting compelling personal statements and research proposals. The programme offers hands-on workshops, intensive writing boot camps, one-to-one application feedback, dedicated office hours, and mentorship designed to maximise each student’s academic potential. RLRH actively advocates for students, working directly with universities to eliminate barriers that impede their progress.
A complementary bridging programme that can be completed before or during Horizons is Graduate Admissions Essentials, a three-month self-guided programme designed by RLRH to help learners strengthen their academic and professional profiles across the core admissions areas that universities assess for postgraduate study. A wide range of thoughtfully curated resources are available, meeting learners where they are in their tertiary education journeys.
Finally, RLRH Foundations: Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, is an intensive nine-module online course that supports students to develop academic skills in the Social Sciences. The interdisciplinary curriculum exposes learners to International Humanitarian Law, Anthropology, Political Theory, Gender Studies, International Relations, and more, preparing participants for study across a wide range of fields of interest. In the near future, RLRH will be developing new Foundations courses, catering to a wider range of subject areas of interest as members of our community prepare for postgraduate degrees.
Overview of Position
As RLRH’s community grows rapidly, we are looking for a colleague to support our students’’ learning journeys by curating stimulating advanced content across a range of disciplines in the Social Sciences, Humanities, STEM, and beyond, and delivering material to displaced audiences across cultural and geographic contexts. As a dedicated new position on the team, the Academic Content and Facilitation Manager will build on five years of existing resources, playing a pivotal role in advancing RLRH’s objective of supporting 1,000 refugee and otherwise displaced students to enrol in master’s degrees worldwide by 2028. Working closely within the RLRH Academic Pillar team, the post-holder will contribute significant effort to supporting African displacement-affected scholars to access postgraduate opportunities across Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partner universities.
The Manager will lead the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of high-quality academic and skills-based courses, workshops, and other programmes that equip learners with the knowledge, confidence, and practical tools required to access and succeed in postgraduate study. This includes overseeing the expansion of impactful content development and delivery across all AP programmes including Graduate Horizons, Graduate Application Essentials, and Foundations courses. The Manager will be supported by the Mentoring and Student Success Manager to ensure the content is provided in a one-to-one capacity.
The post-holder will ensure that programme content is pedagogically rigorous and responsive to the needs of diverse, multilingual learner cohorts whose historic access to higher education is highly variable. In practice, successful content delivery is deeply inclusive, engaging, and exploratory. Through strategic curriculum design, high-quality facilitation, and robust operational management, the role will drive measurable learning outcomes across all programme activities, enabling further scalability and impact.
Our team is looking for a candidate who is ready to embrace the dynamic and demanding targets of this portfolio, exercising independent leadership and decision making alongside collective strategy development and programme implementation. The postholder will spend the majority of time working from the Oxford office, alongside other RLRH, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Department of International Development (ODID), and other University colleagues, with occasional travel and regular cooperation with AP team members across our global operations.
Responsibilities
Content Strategy and Development (40%)
- Translate the Academic Pillar’s objectives and KPIs into structured curricula, learning outcomes, session guides, and facilitation plans, contributing to the achievement of RLRH’s collaboration programme goals, including those developed with the Mastercard Foundation.
- Lead on and be accountable for the development, delivery, and ongoing improvement of high-quality academic content, in collaboration with subject-area specialists, including:
- Academic courses (e.g., innovating around existing programmes and developing new Foundations courses in in-demand disciplines, such as Environment Studies, African Studies, Gender Studies, among other new bridging content).
- Skills-based programme content (e.g. on topics such as choosing a good-fit university, improving academic writing, developing an academic CV and motivation letter, deepening research skills and critical thinking, and managing AI use in scholarship).
- Academic enrichment activities (e.g., in-person and virtual workshops, book clubs, seminar series, and film screenings, adapted across our offices)
- Liaise with University of Oxford faculty across departments, as well as values-aligned professors, researchers, and practitioners more broadly, to solicit support in developing bespoke academic content that can be made available to displaced learners in RLRH’s networks.
- Ensure content is pedagogically rigorous, inclusive, and accessible to diverse, multilingual learner cohorts.
- Develop standardised toolkits, templates, and resource banks to ensure consistency across programme delivery.
- Adapt and, with the support of locally based academic facilitators, embed advanced academic curricula in RLRH’s in-person learning hubs in Kuala Lumpur, Nairobi, Kampala, Kakuma, Amman, and Oxfordshire.
- Develop content and strategies to help displaced students (across 30+ partner universities, including those in the Oxford Sanctuary Community (OSC)) achieve on-course success and ease transitions into further study or academic opportunities following completion of master’s degrees and PhDs.
- Review and regularly update materials in response to learner feedback, mentor input, and evolving academic requirements from partner universities, working closely with the AP’s Mentoring and Student Success Manager and the Academic Partnerships and Outreach Manager to ensure alignment.
Academic Facilitation and Delivery (35%)
- Develop and implement virtual (and occasional in-person) facilitation and delivery guidance and quality standards to ensure alignment with programme objectives and commitments to learners.
- Manage the facilitation of online and in-person workshops, seminars, and mentoring sessions.
- Engage with RLRH learners, whether new or already affiliated; Hub-based affiliates; and OSC learners.
- Be responsible for ensuring sessions are engaging, participatory, and responsive to learner needs.
- Directly facilitate select sessions where needed, modelling good practice in inclusive, learner-centred pedagogy.
- Support the recruitment, training, and ongoing development of RLRH facilitators, providing guidance and direction to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery.
Project and Operational Management (20%)
- Develop content production schedules and delivery timelines to ensure programmes are delivered on time and to a high standard.
- Coordinate with other team members to ensure seamless programme implementation.
- Take responsibility for coordinating and contributing to quality assurance processes for both content and facilitation, embedding continuous improvement practices.
- Analyse learner data and feedback to inform reporting, programme refinement, and impact measurement.
Resource identification (5%)
- Oversee the development and dissemination of an external academic opportunity database beyond degree programmes, ensuring that RLRH learners are aware of offerings, and coordinating with AP team members to support learners’ success in securing the opportunity (e.g., for online and in-person short courses and summer schools, academic mentoring schemes, academic publishing opportunities, scholarships, and visiting fellowships, among others).
Selection criteria
Essential
- Substantial content and/or curriculum development experience in an (I)NGO and/or higher education setting, with excellent leadership experience and timeline management.
- A postgraduate degree (or equivalent professional experience). No particular field is expected, but familiarity with (Refugee and Forced) Migration Studies, Education, International Development, and related disciplines can be an advantage.
- Strong understanding of how to impart mastery of academic skills, including critical thinking and academic writing, research methods, and compiling compelling postgraduate applications.
- Demonstrated experience designing and developing structured academic or skills-based learning programmes.
- Proven experience facilitating workshops, seminars, or online learning sessions, with working knowledge of inclusive, learner-centred pedagogical approaches.
- Understanding of quality assurance processes in educational or training contexts, with the ability to analyse learner data and provide feedback to inform continuous improvement.
- Excellent written communication skills, to produce clear, engaging, and high-quality learning materials.
- Highly organised, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver to deadlines. Ability to work independently, prioritise own workload, and work flexibly as part of a team.
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills, with experience working across diverse teams.
- Excellent cultural competency and cultural humility.
- A commitment to demonstrating respect, courtesy and consideration in interactions with members of the University community.
Desirable
- Familiarity with the African education ecosystem and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.
- Fluency in additional languages spoken by RLRH learners and affiliates, such as Kiswahili, Arabic, or French.
- Familiarity with project management principles and tools, including task scheduling and progress tracking.
How to apply
How to apply
Applications are made through our online recruitment portal. Information about how to apply is available on our Jobs website https://www.jobs.ox.ac.uk/how-to-apply.
Your application will be judged solely on the basis of how you demonstrate that you meet the selection criteria stated in the job description.
As part of your application you will be asked to provide details of two referees and indicate whether we can contact them now.
You will be asked to upload a CV and a supporting statement. The supporting statement must explain how you meet each of the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience. This may include experience gained in employment, education, or during career breaks (such as time out to care for dependants)
Please upload all documents as PDF files with your name and the document type in the filename.
All applications must be received by midday UK time on the closing date stated in the online advertisement.